Police departments to receive grant funding

Police departments in San Joaquin County are receiving more than a half-million dollars in state funding as part of a decision this week by the California Board of State And Community Corrections.

The Record

Police departments in San Joaquin County are receiving more than a half-million dollars in state funding as part of a decision this week by the California Board of State And Community Corrections.

The board voted Thursday to distribute $24 million in grants based on a formula developed by the California Police Chiefs Association.

Although distribution of $20 million using the same formula had been approved in November, a new vote was necessary because Gov. Jerry Brown recently increased the amount allocated to $24 million.

The formula divides the money among California's counties based on a number of factors, including local budget cuts, crime trends, and the ability of the local agencies to make effective use of the money.

The plan then calls for the local police departments within each county to make a "collective decision" on how to distribute the money to the police departments there.

San Joaquin County will receive $534,869 this year. Calaveras County will receive $22,286.

Stockton police spokesman Officer Joe Silva said the San Joaquin County money is being used to fund an interagency task force that checks up on offenders who are being supervised by San Joaquin County rather than the state under the terms of the criminal justice realignment that went into effect in 2011.

The task force includes a sergeant from the Stockton Police Department and officers from the Manteca, Lodi and Tracy police departments.

"They are already out in the neighborhoods contacting these AB109 parolees," Silva said of the task force. AB109 refers to the law that created California's criminal justice realignment.

The realignment has the effect of shifting some offenders who would formerly have been in prison to county jails, and some post-release offenders who would have been under state parole supervision to county probation supervision.